Reed Exhibitions, which has quickly built the New York Comic Con into a major event, has announced that it is launching the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), which will debut April 16-18, 2010 at McCormick Place in downtown Chicago.With the Chicago show set for the spring (and April dates secured for years to come), Reed is moving its New York Comic Con, which will be held this coming weekend from February 6-8, to permanent dates in the fall starting in October of 2010.

Despite the success of the New York Comic Con, where attendance grew from 33,000 in its first year to 67,000 in 2008, the busy schedule at the booked up Javits Center precluded the NYCC from securing the spring dates that Reed wanted year after year (last year’s NYCC was held in April, but the show had to move back to February this year).Lance Fensterman, V.P. and Show Manager for the NYCC, explained that balancing the convention calendar was a major impetus behind Reed’s decision to launch a Chicago show and move the NYCC to the fall: “The major players in the various pop culture industries are behind us. We are pleased with the new timeline and see Chicago as anchoring the spring con calendar and New York Comic Con as ending the con calendar with a major exclamation point.”

The C2E2 will mark the return of a major comic-themed entertainment expo to downtown Chicago and Fensterman promises to provide “dynamic programming that boasts top talent from across the pop culture spectrum, including artists, creators and celebrities from Hollywood, TV, comics, books, video games, toys, Anime, manga and all other applicable aspects of the popular arts. But, most importantly, we will also seek to make adjustments so that our show reflects the essence of Chicago. This will be critically important. The city itself will form an important part of our identity.”